Everyone is looking for a travel deal, and that includes the Pentagon, which realizes that military personnel traveling on temporary, yet extended, assignments, should be able to take advantage of lodging providers' monthly rates instead of paying by the day.

There are big bucks at stake as CWTSato Travel and Concur battle it out over government travel contracts. CWT recently got bragging rights by landing the DOT contract, and the Department of Commerce is a possibility, as well.

Concur will likely eventually get its act together, and get past the problematic rollout of its government travel solution to civilian federal government agencies. Still, it was disingenuous of Concur officials to tell investors that everything is going smoothly when there are actually major problems with the program's introduction.

Did Santa Fe get a raw deal on federal government per diems compared with other New Mexico cities? Regardless of that answer, the city's dilemma shows the impact that per diems make at the local level.

With all government agencies and contractors saying they are cutting back travel by 10-20 percent and making the stark choice between cutting back or furloughs for employees, it won't be a pretty fall season for the airline and hotel industry.

Federal government agencies have been ordered to cut back on their travel budgets, but an inspector general's report found that certain IRS executive travel was essential for operations. Perhaps the IRS honchos should have visited more often the supposedly rogue offices that were targeting Tea Party applications for special treatment.

It turned heads last June when the GSA awarded a $1.4 billion government travel contact to a single vendor, Concur, which had never been involved in government travel. Concur isn't in danger of losing all the business, but it may have to share with CWT Sato Travel.